InPowr Blog

November 9, 2007

Beta is making it betta!

Thanks to your comments and suggestions, we’ve made a few changes in the past few weeks.

Home page:
As you’ve probably noticed, when you log in now, you go straight to the Profile section, which is now kind of like a dashboard.

In addition to the features that were already available in Profile, like adding text and images to show and tell the world who you are, the new version now gives you quick access to the entire inpowr site. Without having to navigate to other sections, you can create your game plan and set your goals.
From there, you can work on your goals, track your actions and measure your progress.

Actions:
We made a little change here, too. Now, when you get your email reminder to track your daily actions,
you’re directed straight to the Action page. Seems obvious, but we needed feedback from users like you to remind us.

From Progress back to Goals: keeping the process alive.
Here’s a frustration that many members commented on: at the end of the 21-day period, you go back and rate your well-being again. Then you put a check mark beside the changes that you feel were a direct result of your actions and you hit “save.” And the process ends there. It’s not supposed to. When you re-rate your well-being, you’re supposed to go back to the Goals section to see what else you can work on.

We’ll be correcting that problem shortly. In the near future, when you get to the end of the 21-day period and make conclusions about your progress, you’ll be asked whether you want to keep working on the same goal or set new goals.

Web platforms are like people: they’re always in beta.
Thanks for your comments and suggestions. And please: keep them coming.

The inpowr team.

November 1, 2007

We want to hear from you!

You know when you’re on hold and you hear “Your call is important to us, please stay on line.” You think to yourself: “Yeah, right. If my call was important, they’d take it right away.” Or when you see a line like “Please share your thoughts/comments,” you think, “Yeah, whatever… everyone says that.” Well, for the record: WE REALLY MEAN IT!

We really want–no, scratch that–we really need to hear from you. The only way we can make inpowr as good as it can be is to get real feedback from members like you. So please, tell us about your experiences. Not just the functional stuff, like bugs or spelling mistakes. But the big stuff: we need to know what you first expected from inpowr and where the experience fell short. We need to know how you feel while you’re using inpowr: excited, motivated, discouraged, frustrated, etc. Do you feel as though inpowr is helping you in any way, and if so, how? What’s missing from the site? How can we improve?

In short, we need to hear from you! We’ll be making a few changes to the site over the next few weeks to make it easier for you to communicate with us, but until then, please… Don’t be a stranger!

e you soon…

Kerry

October 31, 2007

Embrace fear… not just on Halloween.

There are lots of things out there that scare us:
snakes, spiders, flying… and sometimes even personal growth.

But fear itself isn’t necessarily a problem.
What counts is how we deal with it.

If we channel them well, our fears can be a powerful force of change…

Scary Halloween!

October 9, 2007

Actions speak louder than words.

For some time now–OK, for a real long time now–we’ve been telling you to stay tuned for new inpowr developments. Well, the waiting has finally paid off. We’re super happy to announce that two cool new sections are now online: Action and Progress! (Insert loud whooping noises here)

When you started using inpowr, you rated your well-being in 36 distinct areas of life. Then you chose a few areas to work on, you set one or more goals for yourself and you created a 21-day game plan. But that’s as far as it went. If you’re like most people, you wanted more. Well here it is…

From now on during the 21-day period, you’ll be directed to the Action section where you’ll be asked what you did that day to help you reach your goal, and how you feel about your daily progress. You can also record your thoughts and conclusions and share them with the community. In the near future, you’ll also be able to receive help from your supporters.

As you move towards your goal, or later on once you’ve accomplished your goal, you can come back and check out your daily life log. It’s a great way to help understand how your actions affect your well-being.

The Progress section comes next. At the end of the 21 days, you’ll be asked to rate your well-being again. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be given a detailed look at the changes that occurred. It’s up to you to decide whether those changes were the direct result of your actions and if so, how your actions affected your well-being. This is where the real inpowrment begins.

What’s unique about inpowr is the way it helps people take stock of their well-being, identify the aspects of their lives they’d like to change, create a game plan, and measure how their actions affect their well-being. Now that the Action and Progress sections are online, you’ll be able to do just that. It’s one thing to have someone else tell you what you should be doing with your life. It’s quite another to discover and decide for yourself!

Enough words; it’s time for action!

Remember: inpowr is all about improvement and we need your help to improve, so don’t forget to share your thoughts and comments with us.

Good luck. Have fun!

The inpowr team.

September 12, 2007

8 easy steps

I was just listening to Alanis Morrisette’s song “Eight Easy Steps” (http://www.alanis.com/). Aside from being a kick-ass song, it’s also a clever parody of the “quick fix” world we live in. Got a problem? No problem! Take this pill. Read this book. Listen to this CD. Come to my seminar. Unwanted flab? A quick nip and a tuck and you’ll look like a million bucks… well, OK… $5K.

An old Monty Python sketch had a good laugh at the same subject: “…This week on ‘How to do it’ we’re going to show you how to play the flute, how to split an atom, how to construct a box girder bridge, how to irrigate the Sahara Desert and make vast new areas of land cultivatable, but first, here’s Jackie to tell you all how to rid the world of all known diseases…”

We like to believe there’s a quick fix for everything. There isn’t. It takes more than eight steps and they’re not always easy. Unfortunately, sometimes when that truth comes crashing down on us, we give up. Well don’t despair. Here’s another truth: we don’t have to make everything in life perfect. We simply have to improve… to make things a little better every day.

inpowr® was developed for just that reason: to help people make their lives a little better every day. It’s based on a couple of important ideas: 1) our well-being is directly affected by our daily actions; 2) we develop by understanding how our actions affect us; and 3) we learn and grow by engaging with ourselves and with others.

If you’re a member, you’re starting to see how your actions affect your well-being. Cool, huh! In a short time, we’ll be launching the remaining sections of the platform so you can make the most of your inpowr® experience. In the meantime, we invite you to keep working on your goals. Don’t forget to go back and rate your well-being every now and then. And please tell your friends about inpowr® too! The more members we have, the more we’ll all be able to learn from one another.

If you’re not a member yet, remember: well-being isn’t a destination, it’s a journey and, as the old Chinese saying goes “Even a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” And the first step is easy: register.